Tech Task #3 for ECMP 355

2010 Preconference Keynote-Sharing: The Moral Imperative by Dean Shareski for the 2010 K12 Online Conference

I found this talk to be very real. It concerns a topic that I have a great belief in … sharing. Dean Shareski starts with the line “I’m a giant derivative.” What follows in the next minute are a series of images of people and snapshots of networking pages. Dean explains that these images represent some of the people who are part of his learning network, people who he has learned from over the years.

Shareski makes the comment that teachers who don’t share are like two-year-olds, trying to keep all their ideas to themselves. What follows is a quote:

“Sharing, and sharing online specifically, is not in addition to the work of being an educator. It is the work.”                    ~Ewan Mcintosh

Shareski goes on to explain the quote as meaning that if teaching is sharing, then without sharing there is no education. In the past, your sharing was received only by the students in your classroom. Often the teacher right next door didn’t even know what you were doing in your classroom. Today, our problem is not whether we should share, but instead with who and how do we share, and with having to sort through the many resources available on the internet.

Next are shared a few stories of educators, and non-educators, who have turned to sharing on the internet (Dan Meyer, George Couros, and Jabiz Raisdana). These stories are touching and definitely promote the benefits of sharing online. And our sharing does not have to be limited to our school, our school district, or even our country. Shareski tells us “sharing has always been a part of your job” and “[sharing] is an ethical responsibility.” To end, the question “What will you share today?” is shown to the audience.

I definitely agreed with what Dean Shareski has to say. I believe sharing is a necessary part of teaching. We hardly have time to sit down during the day, let alone having to come up with all of our own lessons, lessons that have to be engaging and motivating for students while actually teaching them something, hopefully from the curriculum. There are so many great minds out there and so many great ideas to borrow. We have the technology to share, so why not put that technology to use. And while borrowing others ideas is great, I also like the idea of sharing mine. If I have a lesson that works really well, I want to share it. I want others to benefit from it. I’m twenty-one after all, not two.

Let me know what you think? Do you agree or disagree with the idea of sharing online? What do you feel are some of the best ways/means of sharing online?